Twelve of the county’s finest young swimmers grabbed nine medals, including three gold, and powered to a host of personal best times at the Neath Open Meet. 

The Pembrokeshire County Swimming (PCS) National Squad took on swimmers from across England and Wales at the meet, held at the Wales National Pool, Swansea over two days last month.

The meet was a split level three and level two gala, with faster entry times required to compete in the level 2 races.

Josh McDowell secured an impressive haul of three gold medals in the boys’ 11-12 year 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 200 individual medley (IM), in which he romped home in a time of 2:58.68.

Rory Andrews of Haverfordwest also bagged a clutch of metal, with 4 bronzes in the 400, 200 and 100m freestyle, plus a speedy time of 2:39.22 in the level 2 200IM race for 11-12 boys.

Jessica Sandy and Rachael Lewis completed the medal grab for PCS with silver and bronze respectively in the 11-12 year 200 IM. Jess stormed to second spot in 2:51.37, while Rachael hit the wall in 2:56.74.

The Neath Open, held a week after the Pembrokeshire County Championships in Haverfordwest, was used to prepare the squad for forthcoming target meets - Swansea Aquatics Autumn Open at the end of November and the Swim Wales Winter Nationals in December, which will be used as the Commonwealth Games qualifier for Welsh swimmers. 

Sam Jones, assistant development coach at PCS, said: “The swimmers performed brilliantly over the weekend, with some racing for the first time this season. It was great preparation, going into our targeted meet (Winter Nationals) in early December - and exciting times for the county’s younger swimmers.”